Computer systems and users need to be provided with increasing amounts of data. There are many ways of trying to provide that data in an efficient fashion. One of these ways is to stream data to a particular user, via the internet. The streaming data environment, however, requires a very high bandwidth system to be efficient. Even with the systems that are presently available, a typical filmlike movie may take several hours to download, which is unacceptable in many situations.
There are other ways of delivering media. One way of delivering media, for example, is pay for view environments. However, in these kinds of environments, the user is limited to specific movies that are shown at specific times or the like. It is also possible to provide for the time shifting of the delivery of the media. An example of this process is Netflix, in which a user can ask for or can receive and send disks of information, or can apply for particular video rentals which arrive via the mail within some predetermined period of time, such as 1-3 days. This type of system, although it is clearly effective, depends on the existence of large warehouses of DVDs or the like and some kind of packaging and shipping system. In addition, it requires an extensive library or collection of data to allow for the user to have sufficient access to the information they want.
Accordingly, at this period of time no currently existing system allows for the delivery of media instantaneously to the consumer market, primarily due to bandwidth limitations. Additionally, in other methods of delivering media, such as Netflix, there are delays in receiving the media which are longer than may be desired. Accordingly, what is needed is a high speed system for delivering media utilizing existing technology that overcomes the above-identified issues. The present invention addresses such a need.